TNA Wrestling's 2013 Performance

This post will be my own opinions of what I have seen in TNA in 2013, before I start I just want to clarify a few things that I WILL NOT be mentioning.

1. I will not be talking about the 4 sided ring vs the 6 sided ring
2. I will not be talking about the rumour that TNA is being sold.
3. I will not be talking about TNA's financial situation

This post will be solely on TNA in 2013 as a whole.

The year started with the Aces and Eights being the main storyline and focal point of the company, and I had been criticizing the angle from the start due to the lack of originality and constant mistakes that the creative team seemed to have been making with the group. The Aces & Eights had one unique concept about them, which was the masks, everyone wanted to know who was behind the masks and of course who the leader was. Unfortunately this is where it ended for the stable in terms of originality. The Stable used the exact same cowardly tactics that literally every heel stable ever has been using for years. I was initially a fan of the concept, but after a while it got too boring, too quickly. Some people on the internet have a theory that TNA produces too many faction storylines. Perhaps these people would feel differently if these factions had more depth and originality, but instead TNA just re-hash ideas from previous factions and expect no one to notice. Any long time TNA viewer can even hear it in the regular commentary from Mike Tenay:

2009: "Its the gang like tactics of the Main Event Mafia"
2011 "Its the gang like tactics of Immortal"
2013 "Its the gang like tactics of the Aces & Eights"

By the time Lockdown arrived, I honestly thought that the storyline should be ditched and that TNA should come up with something new. This opinion changed of course, at the end of the main event. Bully Ray being revealed as the President of the Aces and Eights was the best thing to happen to the group since it first burst on the scene after Slammiversary in 2012. His leadership literally saved the storyline and made it relevant once again. I know that a bunch of people saw the reveal at Lockdown a mile away, but admittedly I was shocked, I always assumed it would be Bischoff.

Bully Ray in my opinion was definitely TNA superstar of the year in 2013. He has really stepped up his in ring ability and his mic skills have been untouchable as always. Without doubt one of the greatest heels ever, Bully has really made the most of his time in the spotlight in 2013 and deserves credit for shining through in one of TNA's most unstable years, which brings me to my next point.

It seems like there's a running theme in TNA of one step forward two steps back, and this has been the case for the last few years but never as blatant as in 2013. Its like every time TNA does something right, they dumb it down by doing something that doesn't make sense. Every time the creative team make a good move, they counteract themselves by making a big mistake. Examples:

1.Chris Sabin in the main event picture: GOOD MOVE
Sabin winning and losing the Title in the space of a couple of months and then turning heel for no reason and reverting back to the X Division: MISTAKE.

2. Bringing in the X-Cam worn by referees in X Division matches to bring in a unique concept that separates the division from any other: GOOD MOVE.
Getting rid of the X-Cam and barley promoting the X Division on television at all: MISTAKE

3. Bully Ray turning heel and being one of the most intimidating and dominant TNA world champions in recent memory: GOOD MOVE
Hulk Hogan, a retired pro wrestler, barley mobile after multiple back surgeries, clearing the ring of the World Heavyweight Champion in seconds: BIG MISTAKE

Number 3 brings me to the topic of Hulk Hogans departure in TNA. I was watching back in 2010 when Hulk Joined TNA and have seen his entire TNA reign play out on TV every week up until his departure. Honestly I was glad that he left, it was a blessing in disguise for TNA, depending on how they look at it. Lets be honest, Hogan has been involved in some way, shape, or form in every single main event storyline for way too long and the guy just takes up too much air time on TV. So as far an I am concerned, Hulk leaving TNA in October was a good thing.

Another individual who left TNA in 2013 is AJ Styles. This was perhaps the lowest moment for TNA in 2013 because Styles is an original, and the fact that they just let him go without offering him some sort of incentive to stay sets a terrible example for the other originals like Storm and Eric Young. In 2011 I said I couldn't understand why TNA would fire someone like Jay Lethal, who was over and respected by the fans, but continue to employ someone like Rob Terry who was never over as a face or a heel. In 2013 I said I couldn't understand why TNA would let the face of the company AJ Styles go, but continue to hire Jessie Godderz. I am aware of the rumours that Styles will return in 2014 and I really hope them to be true.

The actual match quality in 2013 has been surprisingly good. There have been entertaining matches all year from wrestlers like AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Storm, Roode, Jeff Hardy, Chris Sabin, Kurt Angle, Austin Aries, Bad Influence, and TNA's new breakout main event-er, Magnus. The recent TNA World Title tournament with the wheel of Dixie has produced very good ppv quality matches.
TNA has a great array of talent, who can put on incredible matches, but some of them are being constantly wasted every single week. For example, Christopher Daniels and Kazarian are two very talented wrestlers with very entertaining gimmicks who could be great World Champions one day, but they have spent 2013 involved in meaningless and idiotic storylines that lead literally no where. The Joseph Park angle is in my opinion the worst angle of the year and by the time Eric Young revealed what everyone already knew, (That Park is in fact Abyss) no one seemed to care anyway.

The best TNA moment in 2013 in my opinion is between Bully Ray's reveal and Lockdown and AJ Styles win an Bound for Glory.
2014 could be an interesting year for TNA, I myself am hoping for an emphasis on the X Division, an elimination of comedy storylines and for a push on workhorses like Austin Aries. Aries could be the best thing to happen to TNA if they just use him properly, and give him the mic time that he deserves!

I would like to do more of these posts so please let me know what you thought of this one and leave any of your opinions of TNA's 2013 performance.

Comments

There is differences in the storylines. Are they similar to say other heel stables such as constant beatdowns of babyfaces? Hell yea, what heel tandem doesn't? Evolution didn't have gang like tactics nor did Shield, Nexus, NWO, or hell even the four horsemen. NWO didn't beat up everyone while putting spray paint on their backs. Shield just worked for Heyman for a while, but still continued their beatdowns on whoever for whatever reason. Evolution did the same with HBK, Goldberg and so forth. How many times do you remember the Nexus doing the same as Shield surrounding the ring giving each other signals to pounce.

Why I'm so defensive is because the MEM vs Frontline is one of the best storylines TNA ever did. It shouldn't be compared to the garbage of fortune and Immortal. What makes all these groups different? Immortal was Hogan's baby along with Bischoff after taking over the company by getting Dixie to sign something without reading it. Is that the same as a biker gang full of guys who are mad about their not getting jobs with TNA or whatever the hell it was? Immortal had names like Jeff Jarrett, Jeff Hardy, Hogan, Flair, Bischoff, and so forth. Aces and 8s was a bunch of no name jobbers who can't make it on their own. Notice why none of them are around besides Bully Ray. The others are gone by choice for Immortal.

MEM ending was that bad part about it. It was about the young guys not respecting the veterans. Frontline who helped build this company believes they should get respect for building the blocks to help make TNA what it was. Vets like Angle and so forth came in after they built this great company. It was a very good storyline, unfortunately, it had the vets winning the majority of the matches. It also had some terrible moments like focus being off the Frontline during the storyline when the group started to implode. Slammiversary 09 had Joe, the main target in the first place that started it all gave the world title to Angle. Joe hasn't been the same since. How does vets vs young guns such as main event mafia all being former world champions with amazing track records while on the other side frontline TNA originals who hasn't had that success elsewhere. How can you say they are the same? MEM is the best group TNA has ever created. The first version I mean of course.

I agree with #1 completely, but I will argue 2 and 3.

2. X-Cam was silly. Look at the refs hat for god sakes. The moving of the ref when you switched to the cam. It was moving around like crazy during moves. Really did nothing for me, but annoy me. I was glad when it was off there. The biggest insult to the X-Division this year was all those triple threat matches every single week with no storyline really at all. How can you whine about the X-Cam after all those triple threat matches?

3.Let me say this about Hogan clearing the ring of Bully Ray. How many damn times has he done that? He cleared the ring, beat the main guys despite being say in his 50s when he beat HHH to become the Undisputed champion. What is the bigger insult between the two? Hogan beating HHH for the main prize in WWE at the time or clearing Bully Ray out of the ring? I have much more respect for HHH than I do for Bully Ray based on individual accomplishments. For the people who do complain about Hogan clearing the ring of Bully Ray after how many back surgeries....only a smart fan would know about injuries outside the ring. The average fan wouldn't know. So what is the point of complaining about it? I don't remember it probably because I could give a fly about when Hogan was on my TV screen when I was tuning in during TNA. I bet Hogan does worse to someone at WM30. By the way, I was glad when he left as well. I was ready for him to leave the door after just the first few months.

Upset about AJ thing to, nothing we can really do about it. Just hope at some point they can come to an agreement. Point about Jessie though? Jessie is probably like a 10th of what AJ would be making or probably less than what I estimated. That is why he still has a job. Why he has a job over a guy like Shelton Benjamin, Masters, or so on is beyond me. Probably $ figures.

I enjoyed the TNA title tournament along with being happy that Magnus ended up winning the world title. As far as Bad Influence goes, they are being silly and entertaining because that is what they want to do. They are being themselves out there believing they steal the show every night they go out there. Bad Influence vs Park and EY is a bad thing? Isn't like there is much else they have to do. Battled with virtually everyone on the roster. Heel vs Heel isn't going to work. As far as those two being world champions some day in the future? Kaz is I'd say in his mid 30s at least while Daniels was turned away from WWE because of his age. He's entering his mid 40s and I don't expect him to be a world champion some day in TNA because of that. However, he is 1 of the TNA talents that should have. Monty Brown tops my list, however, Daniels tops most everyone elses.

Fav moment from TNA in 2013? Sabin winning the world title at Destination X!